I do have one question. Its a bit of a selfish desire, but I was wondering. Will there be a single entity ((other then the daegger)) that can fight with us in bashing? I am a personal fan of seeing a entity in our entourage that can help us in bashing in some minor way. At least, I personally would love to see less of a passive role to our minions and something can do with us? Like....maybe our ouroboros could periodically randomly bite at our hunting monsters and players to drain life essence into itself to give to you slowly when running low on essence. Or one of the entities can reflect a small portion of damage back at the enemies? I understand that alot of pet-centric classes were meant to only be capable for pvp. However I would personally love to see more pve focus of using spirits and the ouroboros to protect or block attacks with a little retaliation when bashing.

I am still excited no matter what becomes of it I really love the direction focusing on the pets where summoner kinda lost some of its entity entourage flair.

Also, could there be some consideration to adding to classes afflictions that effect mobs similar to the promo item scepter?

I really REALLY think there is potential to all classes to have a single type of affliction that synergizes with other classes while hunting. Something to promote more cooperation between classes. Or maybe each circle having 1~3 affliction types they specifically can do while hunting.

Priest in the AM circle has alot of the trappings of a "support" role. I would think seeing as how Diabolists are basically the demonik priests, it would make sense to kind of expand that role for them.

Not sure if Magick has a similar class, Bard maybe? I'd think Bard would be idea with the songs and stuff.

Priest in the AM circle has alot of the trappings of a "support" role. I would think seeing as how Diabolists are basically the demonik priests, it would make sense to kind of expand that role for them.

Not sure if Magick has a similar class, Bard maybe? I'd think Bard would be idea with the songs and stuff.

In some ways, but remember that the circles are balanced entirely differently.

"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."

As a progress update, we'll most likely be starting the beta early next week - I'll post more information at that time. For some preview, here are the ability lists - without any actual descriptions thus far.

This really is nothing more than a teaser - trying to get any relevant information out of these could be quite misleading!

Ritualism offers the following abilities:Daegger Twist a dagger to suit ritualistic needs.Sae-uxa Ignite flames with the symbol of fire.Sett The disruptive symbol of balance.Sae-edi Sketch the symbol of ice to bring extreme cold.Sae-ino Harness the raw power of the symbol of magick.Ante-uno Shatter protective barriers with the symbol of hammer.Noss-ita Inflict maladies of the body.Noss-ani Weaken the mind with this symbol.Dens-sanve The symbol of vision will augment your sight.Sae-tel Command the strength of the symbol of lightning.Duality Swiftly sketch two symbols at once.Noss-sett Slow down motion with the symbol of stillness.Anae-uxa Negate protections with the empowered symbol of fire.Dae-terra Track movements with the symbol of the butterfly.Noss-tae The symbol of pain. What more is there to say?Do-nenne The empowering symbol of inversion.Noss-settana Crush bones with the symbol of one.Darr The captivating symbol of the spider.Alta-sicn Watch for intruders with the symbol of a gate.Sae-antarea Channel the raw demonic power with the symbol of a whirlwind.Alta-uzmo Dampen hostile effects with the symbol of strength.Ixi-antarea Replicate attacks with the power of the symbol of the sun.Anae-ino Negate protections with the empowered symbol of magick.Noss-sentena The overpowering symbol of maladies.Anae-rakhyma The symbol of resistance.Sae-rakhyma Call forth the memory of pain with the symbol of repetition.Alta-raqae Conceal your activities with the symbol of the night.Alta-ende Obstruct departure with the symbol of a wall..Anae-daen Augment your body with the symbol of the bark.Alta-uzma Sketch the crippling symbol of weakness..Anae-antarea The symbol of vitality shall thrart many a plan.Ixi-sentena The symbol of the moon bestows the ultimate power.For more information, type AB RITUALISM <ability>.

Nightfall offers the following abilities:Night Conjure darkness in the room.Wraiths Command the shadows to take a corporeal form.Vigorous A wraith that reduces incoming damage.Shroud Shroud yourself within shadows.Whispering A wraith that can ease the strain on your mind.Scan Where are your wraiths?Twirl Invoke the healing powers of a vigorous wraith.Nightkiss Refresh the tired mind.Dismiss Banish a wraith back to the shadows.Summon A wraith shall come at your command.Recall Call your wraiths back to you.Fiery A fiery wraith with the power to regenerate.Translucent A wraith with power over translucent shields.Nightfall Spread darkness all around you.Shatter Disrupt a protective shield.Ethereal A wraith with teleportation powers.Shadowgate Form a gate of pure shadows.Midnight A wraith with pwoers over elements and symbols alike.Bodysap Let the vigorous wraith deliver a powerful blow.Scan Discern the weakness of your foe.Shadowsap A powerful mental blow.Glowing A wraith with a potent gaze.Intensify Enhance the effects of your next ritualistic symbol.Stimulate Heal wounds at the cost to your mental strength.Reflective A wraith that feeds on the power of others.Overload Enhance multiple ritualistic symbols.Energize The reflective wraith can charge another one.Amplify Extend the duration of certain ritualistic symbols.Envelop Disable the protective shields for a short time.Shadowtwist Spread confusion all around.Nightcurse A powerful curse of the night.Blackwind Assume the immaterial form of a black wind.Bane Sketch ritualistic symbols with unnatural swiftness.For more information, type AB NIGHTFALL <ability>.

Malignosis offers the following abilities:Pentagram Carve a demonic pentagram.Ouroboros Summon your Ouroboros to do your bidding.Status Discern the status of your Ouroboros.Armor Request that your Ouroboros grant you protection.Horror Instill great fear into your victim with your demon's aid.Necrosis Focus on striking more effectively.Observe Gather information about a target.Presences Locate those in your local area with your Ouroboros.Regeneration Regenerate wounds through the power of your Ouroboros.Sap Drain away the mana of a victim with your loving demon.Trace Command your Ouroboros to trace the movements of someone.Soulmask Conceal your location from prying eyes.Mount Ride your ouroboros with great speed.Apathy Become numb to the crushing pain of existence.Beckon Your Ouroboros is an attractive force indeed.Strip Command your demon to strip the defences from someone.Cowardice Rob the courage from a victim..Sear Order your Ouroboros to sear the flesh of an enemy.Disrupt Disrupt the concentration of another.Healthtap Tap into your mental reserves to heal your wounds.Blast Order your Ouroboros to blast your enemies from the room.Mindread Command your demon to listen to incoming tells.Manatap Regain your mental strength, at a great cost.Contemplation Perceive the state of another's mental strength.Fury Cause those around you to go into an enhancing fury.Stain Stain the soul of someone with your Ouroboros.Negation Deny the protective shields.Syphon Order your Ouroboros to draw afflictions away from you.Refuge Seek refuge in the Inferno.Repulsion None may enter here now.Catharsis Perhaps their death is the greatest mercy there is.For more information, type AB MALIGNOSIS <ability>.

Anyone have thoughts on diabolist? This is my initial impression so far. I'm sure it will change as I conduct more testing.

It definitely feels like a ton of support skills thrown in with no 1v1 potential.

Afflictions: I've tried an affliction route with maladies, sensitivity, stillness, magick (nausea), and bodylink. I can stack afflictions fine, but that's where it ends. The damage from maladies is decent, but not reliable since you don't get the damage unless all 3 kelp affs (hemotoxin, clumsiness, and healthleech) are on the target. We don't have any burst skills that rely on afflictions like demon flay, cruellament, or brainmelt. We also don't get as much DoTs that mage has with icicles, healthleech, nausea, and most of their attacks do some damage and aren't pure aff skills.

Damage: Damage from general attacks such as ice/lightning with resistance reduction is decent, but linear. The damage from a fully charged moon/repetition is decent, but will never see use in group combat. It can be used in 1v1, especially if you add sun before the burst, but the build time is so slow that it's a subpar defiler burst. A full moon charge will probably take about 35-40 seconds if we assume 12% per attack. Defilers had their damage scaling as they gained more entropy, I'm wondering if this might be necessary after a review of damage numbers.

Wraiths: I absolutely hate the wraith mechanic. The abilities are fine, but autosummoning feels buggy, the autosummon/charge/passive/abilities don't appear to have much synergy, and the conditionals on gaining charges is annoying. I would rather have a type of attack increase the wraith charge, or it slowly gains charges than these conditionals. Tone down or move abilities around if you must, but having these conditionals gate abilities is frustrating.

For example, I rely on the glowing passive to reliably track sensitivity, but it will disappear on me if I don't use an inversion symbol. Glowing wraith seems to indicate you're going for an affliction path, but the requirement to gain charges is to use an inversion symbol. Using inversion is more of a defensive mechanic especially against other affliction classes. To maintain my glowing wraith and so it doesn't disappear on me, I have to slow down my affliction offense to use inversion? Furthermore, the abilities of glowing wraith (sensitivity, nightcurse) don't really benefit my chosen affliction path. I don't need another way to apply sensitivity again, and why is nightcurse here? Sure, my glowing wraith will autosummon if I use sensitivity symbol again, which I obviously will, but I still stand by my statement that there's no synergy.

I also feel like I'm limited to my wraiths where ethereal/reflective feel mandatory to have (I'm sure they're not), and that means I'm stuck with 2 wraiths left for autosummoning (probably glowing and vigorous). Why can't I just have all wraiths accessible with how charges are working right now. This just seems to be unnecessary micromanagement. I guess there's an artifact coming along that will increase my wraith to 5 or 6?

It definitely feels like a ton of support skills thrown in with no 1v1 potential.

From what he was saying during the beta, this is pretty much what he intended the class to be.

"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."

It definitely feels like a ton of support skills thrown in with no 1v1 potential.

From what he was saying during the beta, this is pretty much what he intended the class to be.

I guess that goal was met. It's just a profession that a certain set of people may not be interested in when we have other options to choose from that provide offense and support (ie. summoner/wytch).

Shadowtwist looks to be one of their best support skills, but even I would not like to use it when I don't feel like I have much 1v1 potential. I guess it's ideally for a lowbie diabolist to hold/hinder the person you shadowtwist, and surviving with bark, wraiths, and inversion symbols.

I could do without crippled limbs completely stopping my offense all together, especially since you neutered the class so hard that there is nothing left for it to hinder the other person. I could understand if it had potential to stack control, but it lacks anything remotely close to stopping someone's offense, while leaving you completely open for the other person to hinder you with even simple crippled limb stacks to the point where it doesn't matter what you may do, you're pretty much a dead person.

Also, I would like to possibly have a free reincarnate into a different statpack since the change went into effect.

Yeah, that is rough. Now you're just like every other class in the game that uses their limbs for attacks. How will you ever cope?

"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."